Murakami went from rookie favorite to finalist, and Japan is still counting the home runs
In May, an MLB.com panel ranked Munetaka Murakami the AL's top rookie. By October, Detroit's Kevin McGonigle had the players' award.
Key points
- Murakami hit 35 home runs, a record for a Japanese-born rookie, but batted .207 with 77 RBIs in 127 games, Daily Sports reported.
- In MLB.com's first rookie poll, in May, 39 experts ranked him No. 1 in the AL with 20 first-place votes. McGonigle was second with 14.
- Murakami was a finalist for the players' rookie award, which went to McGonigle.
Japanese coverage of Munetaka Murakami's first MLB season holds two stories at once. On May 12, the Japanese edition of MLB.com ran its first rookie-of-the-year poll of the season. A panel of 39 experts picked five players per league. Murakami was first in the American League with 20 first-place votes, ahead of Detroit's Kevin McGonigle, who was second with 14. The article said Murakami led all rookies in home runs (15), slugging (.556), OPS (.920), total bases (79) and walks (30).
The same poll had Toronto's Kazuma Okamoto fourth, with one first-place vote. After changing his stance, the article said, Okamoto hit .303 with eight home runs and 22 RBIs in 21 games, an OPS of 1.049, and had "clearly found something."
On Oct. 29, Daily Sports reported the results of the Players Choice Awards, which are voted on by players. Murakami was a finalist for AL Outstanding Rookie, and McGonigle won. Murakami's final line was 127 games, .207, 35 home runs, 77 RBIs and an .825 OPS. The 35 home runs broke the record for a Japanese-born rookie. He homered in each of his first three games, homered in five straight in mid-April, and had 20 by the All-Star break, when he was selected.
The paper is direct about the other half. A right hamstring injury cost him about a month in June and July, and in the second half he struggled, hitting below .200. It says he still led the team at the plate and in the field.
Original Japanese headlines
村上宗隆がア・リーグ新人王候補１位、ブルージェイズ岡本和真は４位、2026年第１回新人王予想
MLB.com (Japanese edition), May 12, 2026
大谷翔平、PCAに敗れる 選手会選出MVPと最優秀野手の受賞ならず いずれも最終候補入り 村上宗隆は新人賞逃す
Daily Sports, Oct. 29, 2026
Players in this storyMunetaka MurakamiKazuma Okamoto
Our read
This is a rare Japanese-press story where the record and the slump share a paragraph. A .207 average with 35 home runs is a specific kind of season, with plenty of power and not many hits, and the May poll shows how high expectations had been set. The players' vote is one measure of a rookie year. It is not the writers' ballot.